WVC 18 A- 4 - 15
§18A-4-15. Employment of service personnel substitutes.
(a) The county board shall employ and the county
superintendent, subject to the approval of the county board, shall
assign substitute service personnel on the basis of seniority to
perform any of the following duties:

(1) To fill the temporary absence of another service employee;

(2) To fill the position of a regular service person as
follows:

(A) If the regular service person requests a leave of absence
from the county board in writing and is granted the leave in
writing by the county board; or

(B) If the regular service person is on workers' compensation
and absent.

(C) If an absence pursuant to paragraph (A) or (B) of this
subdivision is to extend beyond thirty working days, the county
board shall post the position of the absent employee under the
procedures set forth in section eight-b of this article. If a
substitute service person is employed to fill the position of the
absent employee and is employed in the position for twenty or more
working days, the substitute service person:

(iii) Is accorded all other rights, privileges and benefits
pertaining to the position until the regular employee returns to the position or ceases to be employed by the county board;

(D) If a regular or substitute employee fills a vacancy that
is related in any manner to a leave of absence or the absence of an
employee on workers' compensation as provided in this section, upon
termination of the absence the employee shall be returned to his or
her original position or status;

(E) A service person may not be:

(i) Required to request or to take a leave of absence; or

(ii) Deprived of any right or privilege of regular employment
status for refusal to request or failure to take a leave of
absence;

(3) To perform the service of a service person who is
authorized to be absent from duties without loss of pay;

(4) To temporarily fill a vacancy in a permanent position
caused by severance of employment by the resignation, transfer,
retirement, permanent disability, dismissal pursuant to section
eight, article two of this chapter, or death of the regular service
person who had been assigned to the position. Within twenty
working days from the commencement of the vacancy, the county board
shall fill the vacancy under the procedures set forth in section
eight-b of this article and section five, article two of this
chapter. The person hired to fill the vacancy shall have and be
accorded all rights, privileges and benefits pertaining to the
position;

(5) To fill the vacancy created by a regular employee's suspension.

(A) If the suspension is for more than thirty working days,
the county board shall post the position of the suspended employee
under the procedures set forth in section eight-b of this article.

(B) If a substitute service person is employed to fill the
suspended employee's position, the substitute service person:

(iii) Is accorded all other rights, privileges and benefits
pertaining to the position until the termination by the county
board becomes final or the suspended employee is returned to
employment.

(C) If the suspended employee is not returned to his or her
job, the county board shall fill the vacancy under the procedures
set forth in section eight-b of this article and section five,
article two of this chapter; and

(6) To fill temporarily a vacancy in a newly created position
prior to employing a service person on a regular basis pursuant to
section eight-b of this article.

(b) Service personnel substitutes shall be assigned in the
following manner:

(1) The substitute with the greatest length of service time in
the vacant category of employment has priority in accepting the
assignment throughout the period of the regular service person's absence or until the vacancy is filled on a regular basis pursuant
to section eight-b of this article. Length of service time is
calculated from the date a substitute service person begins
assigned duties as a substitute in a particular category of
employment.

(2) All service personnel substitutes are employed on a
rotating basis according to their lengths of service time until
each substitute has had an opportunity to perform similar
assignments.

(3) Any regular service person employed in the same building
or working station and the same classification category of
employment as the absent employee shall be given the first
opportunity to fill the position of the absent employee on a
rotating and seniority basis. In such case the regular service
person's position is filled by a substitute service person. A
regular service person assigned to fill the position of an absent
employee has the opportunity to hold that position throughout the
absence. For the purpose of this section only, all regularly
employed school bus operators are considered to be employed within
the same building or working station.

(c) The county board shall return a regular school service
person to the same position held prior to any approved leave of
absence or period of recovery from injury or illness. The school
service person:

(1) Retains all rights, privileges and benefits which had accrued at the time of the absence or accrued under any other
provision of law during the absence; and

(2) Has all rights, privileges and benefits generally accorded
school service personnel at the time of return to work.

(d) The salary of a substitute service person is determined:

(1) Based upon his or her years of employment as defined in
section eight of this article;

(2) As provided in the state minimum pay scale set forth in
section eight-a of this article; and

(3) In accordance with the salary schedule of persons
regularly employed in the same position in the county in which he
or she is employed.

(e) A substitute service person shall execute a written
contract with the county board pursuant to section five, article
two of this chapter, prior to beginning assigned duties.

(f) The following method shall be used to establish a fair,
equitable and uniform system for assigning service personnel
substitutes to their duties for the first time:

(1) The initial order of assigning newly-employed substitutes
is determined by a random selection system established by the
affected substitute employees and approved by the county board; and

(2) The initial order is effective only until the substitute
service personnel have begun their duties for the first time.

(g) A substitute service person who has worked thirty days for
a school system has all rights pertaining to suspension, dismissal and contract renewal as are granted to regular service personnel in
sections six, seven, eight and eight-a, article two of this
chapter.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
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